Wale pens an open letter, expressing his views points on black women and how their representation in the media is depicted. It’s no surprise that in 2015, the phrase “sex sells” holds 100% truth more now then ever. During the casting call process for his latest visual “The Body“, Wale decided to steer clear of the ‘half-naked lady’ and go with a dark-complexed women with much left to the imagination. The woman in the video [Mariah] depicts a more “normal beauty,” Wale states, and he hopes that more black women take on this role.
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JaaiR (JR)
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have honestly been sick and tired of our representation in the entertainment world. I feel like they curve “us” as a whole, then every blue moon they allow a pass for a Black person and we’re supposed to throw a party for it.
My question is: What happened to Hollywood?
I remember Lisa Bonet and a plethora of other beautiful Black women on “Different World.” I remember princess Jada [Pinkett]. I used to daydream about her. I was only in elementary school but when I first saw Jada I was in love. Nothing about this princess screamed, “Sex!” My mind was allowed to play with the idea of what lies under this fully clothed “around the way” girl. True, perhaps a child shouldn’t have such fantasies but that’s besides the point.
Black women were represented in such a way that they were not hyper-sexualized objects created by doctors with the sole intent to take pictures, just to add on even more enhancements- be it Photoshop or an abundance of makeup with a sprinkle of good lighting.
When Jeremih and I did a video for my single,”The Body,” it hurt my soul coming to the realization that there is hardly any positivity in Black Hollywood. Years ago I wanted to do a short movie for a single, with legendary director John Singleton. I’m not sure if he didn’t believe in me or if he plain old didn’t have the time to do it, but it never happened.
However, even if we were to do something that represented our culture, where would we start? Casting calls via Instagram? Today’s directors head straight to Instagram for their next star, with casting more or less being determined by how many “likes” a woman receives on the regular.
“The Body,” was an attempt to get us, as Black people, headed in a more elevated direction. Mariah [the model I used in the video] kind of epitomized what I felt a normal beautiful “round the way” girl looked like. These days, we spend so much time focusing on “that assssss, ” we forget how much of love’s chemistry is contingent to a beautiful face and genuine personality. Personalities that used to cut through our television screens when Jada would flex that B’more attitude in a scene. The authenticity back when there was no desire to portray women as just an over-sexualized, clay-like-body to Instagram-obsessed people!
Yes, I’m aware that my latest single is called “The Body.” I also am aware we that barely showed the body… Maybe, just maybe, I thought I could trick these dudes into looking a little deeper. And if only for one video, bring back the glory days of a more genuinely prestigious, “Black Hollywood.”
Illuminate.
When females like Kim K. and Amber Rose get a million RTs or likes after showing their a**, how do you spin it so that a woman can aspire to be like the Oprah? I think this can be chucked up to the times we live in and the money that needs to be made. The more a** to show, the more money is getting made. Funny, when I ran across this open letter, I also saw this on Twitter: “A bad b*tch to most people is a fat a$$ and big tits. A bad b*tch to me is a girl thats loyal, genuine & smart. A pure mind is beauty to me.” It’s the truth, but it’s also lack of high demand.
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